


That's not my name, Lance.

by DefendersofMCUniverse (GeekMom13)



Series: VLD Trope Bingo 2018 [3]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Friends to Lovers, Insecure Lance (Voltron), Kuron is Shiro (Voltron)'s Clone, Lance (Voltron) is a Sweetheart, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-14
Updated: 2018-09-14
Packaged: 2019-07-12 02:23:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,600
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15985592
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GeekMom13/pseuds/DefendersofMCUniverse
Summary: Shiro's clone has a bit of a rough adjustment to the new order...





	That's not my name, Lance.

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Vixen13](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vixen13/gifts).



> For the Square: Friends to Lovers

When they found the Project Kuron base, everyone turned on the Shiro they had been living with. Not in a violent way- the exact opposite, really. They were aggressively _neutral_ to him. Once he was cleared and released from the prison pod… they just stopped caring.

Shrugging off the pats on their shoulders like they meant nothing anymore, listening to his pep talks but just… not feeling it. Not bothering to smile when they walked past him.

Lance was too at first.

Then he found Shiro staring off into space, bag at his side.

“What are you doing?”

He startled a bit. “Oh, nothing.”

“Then what's with the bag?”

Shiro clenched the strap, pulling it closer and hiding it as Lance stepped forward.

“Shiro?”

He laughed. “We both know that _isn’t_ my name, Lance.”

“Well, then what is?”

He looked confused for a minute, opening his mouth a few times and shaking his head. “I don’t think I actually have one.” He sat on the ground, hugging the bag to his chest. “I… I don’t really have anything.”

Lance sat down next to him and offered him a hand. “Well, Not-Shiro, I’m Lance. And you have my friendship.”

He looked at the hand and took it, gently shaking it. They both sat and watched the stars for a bit in silence.

“I lied before.”

Lance looked over. “What, do you have a name?”

“Well, not really. I was woken up, called Shiro by the one who helped me escape and shoved into a pod.”

“Oh,” Lance looked down at his hands.

“I meant… when I said I was doing nothing. I come here every night trying to work up the courage to leave.”

“What? Why?”

Not-Shiro sighed. “None of you actually  _want_ me here. I’m just getting in the way and all of you glare at me when you think I’m not looking.”

Lance went to speak but Not-Shiro just held up his hand, shaking his head. They went back to watching the stars until Lance started yawning and nodding off.

“Come on. Let's get you into bed.”

“M’not tired.”

Not-Shiro laughed.

Every night after that, Lance went to the bridge to make sure Not-Shiro didn’t leave them. They would both try to come up with a name that made him feel better, and it always ended with a yawning Lance being guided back to his room by Not-Shiro.

Keith was the first one to notice the shift between the two of them. Like old friends, they were joking together.

He grabbed Lance’s hand and dragged him down the hall into his room. “What do you think you’re doing?”

“Talking?”

“WHY? He betrayed us!”

“How, exactly? He woke up and got shoved in our direction… He acted as our leader. He took care of all of us!”

Lance stormed out of the room and was in the middle of the lounge, everyone gathered around when Keith caught up with him, yanking him back to face him.

“HOW? How can you not see it, Lance? This  _whole time_ he did nothing but lie to us! He doesn’t care about us. He’s NOT SHIRO!”

Not-Shiro was trying to make himself smaller in the corner of the room.

“Oh really? If he didn’t care then why the hell was he waiting outside of the pods every time one of us needed to heal?”

They all looked down.

“Pidge- who carried you to your room almost every night because you suck at time management and fall asleep working on your projects?”

Pidge blushed.

“Hunk, who was there to taste test your food when I tapped out? Allura, who stood by you for every hard-headed decision you made?”

He turned to face Keith. “Who treated you the exact same way no matter what?”

“It doesn’t matter, Lance. He’s not Shiro. He will never be Shiro and he needs to stop pretending to be Shiro.” Keith glared at Not-Shiro over Lance’s shoulder.

That night, Lance found him sitting in an escape pod.

“Is it bad that I was basing my decision on if you showed up tonight?”

Lance sat next to the door, making sure it couldn’t close. “No. Sometimes we all need a friend.”

“Keith was right though. I do need to stop pretending.”

“Did you think up a name yet?”

“Kuron.”

Lance smiled.

Kuron and Lance kept meeting every night, eventually telling the team he’d go by Kuron instead. Keith stormed away and stayed on the training deck for a few hours before coming out and yelling at Kuron about a few things, mainly possessions of Shiro’s he wanted.

Like every other night that Keith started with him, Lance found him closer to the pods. Lance cheered him up and sent him right to bed, this time catching Kuron yawning.

The first night that Kuron showed up without a bag, Lance smiled but didn’t comment. The next night, he brought some candy that he had stored in his room to share with Lance.

They started to trade little things back and forth each night, Lance slowly getting closer to him without noticing it. One night, when Lance had wiggled his way under Kuron’s arm, he looked down and cleared his throat.

“Something wrong?”

“Not wrong, really. I’m just wondering about this.” He squeezed Lance’s shoulder.

“Oh, I’m sorry, I’m a cuddler…” Lance started to back away.

“No, it’s just… I don’t have memories of this as Shiro.”

Lance laughed. “You wouldn’t. He was my hero. It would have felt weird. You probably remember seeing me draped all over Hunk though, and sometimes Pidge, but they’re less… welcoming of it most of the time.”

Kuron laughed. “I notice you didn’t even mention Keith.”

Lance smiled and settled against him.

“I’m glad to see this side of you.”

That night, Kuron had to carry Lance into his room.

The closer the two of them got, the better everyone else was around him. Even Keith had started to come around. Lance and Kuron still watched the stars each night, but Lance also curled up on the couches with him when Hunk was too busy. Then it started to happen more and more with Hunk around too.

Keith was, of course, the first one to point it out. “So are you two together or what?”

Lance squeaked and Kuron blushed. “Why are you asking?”

Hunk rubbed his neck. “I was thinking the same thing, actually.”

Kuron turned a deeper shade of red and stood up.

He wasn’t at the bridge for the next week and everyone noticed the change in mood for Lance. Lance eventually gave up on seeing Kuron again for their nightly talks. He shifted from sitting alone and not touching anyone or anything, avoiding everyone when he could after a few awkward encounters with Kuron.

He would sometimes hang off of Hunk for a while when he needed someone to ground him. Hunk would just wrap an arm around him and offer a half smile.

Most of his time was spent in his room now, only coming out to train, fight and eat. Being as close to Kuron as he thought he was, Lance knew his schedule and knew how disconnected he had felt before. So he did his best to let Kuron bond with the team. Kuron did try to bring him into their game nights and other activities but Lance would just walk away with a lump in his throat.

It had been a month since Keith brought it up- in a few days they will have been  _not_ talking as much as they  _had_ talked. Lance was trying to see the good in it. He had been stupid and attached himself and his heart before making sure there was even a chance Kuron liked him.

Now, he didn’t have to worry about any of that.

He was headed out to work on his shooting- alone, again, when he crashed into Kuron. He looked into Kuron’s eyes and let out a shaky breath, turning to walk away.

Maybe it was a bit early to call it a good thing. It still hurt like hell.

“Lance?” the question was quiet.

“Yeah?”

“I’m sorry.”

Lance started walking away again. “Yeah. Me too.”

Lance felt an arm wrap around him.

“Kuron?”

“I tried Lance. I tried _so hard.”_

“Tried what?”

“Letting you go.”

Lance turned in the grip. “Why would you want to let me go?”

“I saw the look on your face when Keith brought it up. You looked disgusted by the thought of being with me.”

“I-”

“And so, I stepped back… But I can’t Lance. Even if I’m only a friend to you… please?”

Lance wrapped his arms around Kuron. “I wasn’t disgusted by the thought, Kuron. I was shocked.”

“Why?”

“Well, you’re you… I’m just me. If they gave you back Black, I’d be gone. Allura has Blue and Keith has Red.”

Kuron gently lifted Lance’s chin. “Well, Just Lance… you were the only one to care that I was hurting.”

Lance shrugged.

There was a small pause before Kuron spoke. “I wouldn’t mind you know.”

“Mind what?”

“If Keith was right.”

Lance smiled and pulled closer to Kuron, hugging him tightly. “I would like that.”

Kuron leaned down to kiss him but Lance pulled back with a raised eyebrow. “No kissing until you make it up to me.”

Kuron smiled and pulled him into a hug. “Anything you want.”

It took less than a week for Kuron to earn that first kiss and only a bit longer after that for them to decide it was less effort to share a room.

**Author's Note:**

> You may notice this was originally posted under a different name (Shaladicks). This was my old pseud for VLD content, but I _did not_ own the Tumblr.  
>  So, with a little work, I shifted it all over to [GeekMom13](https://geekmom13.tumblr.com/), but made this new pseud under my AO3.


End file.
